Notice is hereby given of, and you are cordially invited to, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Majura Women’s Group Wednesday 1st September 2010, 10:00am at the Downer Community Centre, Frencham Place, Downer

This is an essential part of our existence as a self-run community group. Come along and hear about the group’s activities and direction. Help to shape its future by getting involved and electing a new Committee. All are welcome.

For more information please contact us at a session or via majurawomensgroup@gmail.com

Agenda for the AGM

1. Present
2. Apologies
3. Minutes of the previous AGM
4. Business arising from previous minutes
5. President’s report
6. Treasurer’s report
7. Election of members of the new Committee

The AGM will be followed by a delicious morning tea – ladies, please bring a plate

About the Committee Roles

MWG is run entirely by volunteer committee members, primarily the other women you see at the group each week. We do not expect committee members to have any previous experience or particular skills. None of the roles are particularly taxing of time although it is expected that committee members can attend most (though not all0 of the meeting held during the year. The times and dates of these are decided by the sitting committee. There are four specific positions identified in the constitution:

• President – co-ordinates the group’s activities;
• Vice-President – assists the President;
• Secretary – keeps minutes of meetings and elections; and
• Treasurer – collects all money, makes payments authorized by the group and keeps accounts.

The group cannot legally function without these four positions being occupied. The other jobs (minimum of 3 maximum of 6) undertaken by the committee members are

• Grants Coordinator – applies for the funds which enable the group to operate;
• Program Coordinator – facilitates us choosing what we’d like to include in the next term’s program and then organises people to come and run those sessions;
• Communication Coordinator – updates website; sets deadlines for the next edition of the newsletter, edits contributions, and compiles the newsletter;
• Backyard Project Coordinator – monitors the progress of the project and liaises between the artists and the committee about the project.

Low cost childcare is available and new members are always welcome to just drop in, no bookings are necessary.

The course is also open to partners of members and in fact parents who aren’t members of MWG- so please mention to interested friends. Contact majurawomensgroup@gmail.com to register your interest.

P.E.T.:

• helps you yell less and be less stressed
• helps you enjoy your relationship with your children.
• helps you to understand your children, and your children to understand you.
• helps you raise confident, considerate children in an atmosphere of mutual respect
• is suitable for parents of children from birth to adulthood
• offers you the “how to” of helping your child become emotionally intelligent.
• offers you an alternative to using rewards and punishment – to help your child develop inner discipline.
• is evidence based and extensively researched

The course consists of three-hour sessions, once per week, for eight weeks. It will run on Wednesday evenings 7pm-10pm, commencing 28 July 2010, at Downer Community Centre (Frencham Place, Downer).

It may seem like a lot of time, but it’s really worth it. Parents who did the course last term found it very valuable. There were also a lot more laughs than you might expect.

The course will be subsidised by MWG and cost members $135 for 10 sessions (this is half price). A couple of free places are reserved for people whose circumstances mean they can’t pay; please get in touch if you’d like to make an arrangement. Training includes work book and text book.

Low cost childcare is available and new members are always welcome to just drop in, no bookings are necessary.

 supported by the ACT Government
۞ supported by the ACT Government Family Support Program

Hope to see you there!

ACT Writers’ Centre  www.actwriters.org.au

Australian Society of Authors  www.asauthors.org

www.writing-world.com

www.writerswrite.com

www.explorewriting.co.uk

http://research-writing-techniques.suite101.com/

BBC World Service: How to Write http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/howtowrite/index.shtml

Seton Hill University: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative/shortstory/index.html

Short Story Writing

www.mahalo.com/how-to-write-a-short-story

BBC: Get Writing: How to Start Writing a Story http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/getwriting/A2981900

Author Network: How to Write a Short Story http://www.author-network.com/advice1.html

ESL Teacher’s Board: How to Write a Short Story http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/writing/index.pl?noframes;read=37

eHow: How To Write a Short Story  http://www.ehow.com/how_3337_write-short-story.html

Joseph Masucci: The Least You Should Know About Outlining Your Short Story (2000) http://massucci.com/Articles/Outlines/outlines.html

Seventh Sanctum: Online Story Generator http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=storygen

TIME: How to Write a Short Story http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555136,00.html

Wikipedia: Antagonist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antagonist

wikiHow: How to Write a Short Story http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Short-Story

wikiHow: How to Write a Great Short Story http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Great-Short-Story

Writing101.com: Tips for Writing a Short Story  http://www.write101.com/shortstory.htm

Writing Corner: You Can Write a Short Story http://writingcorner.com/young/shortstory-1.htm

Writing-World.com: Your Story Outline: What’s It All About? http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/outlining.shtml

http://www.explorewriting.co.uk/FictionCategory.html

http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/index.shtml

http://www.writerswrite.com/cgi-bin/fictart.pl

Writing for Children

http://writingforyoungchildren.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_write_for_young_children

http://writingforyoungchildren.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_write_for_young_children_the_3rs#ixzz0etfrrtHv

www.write4kids.com

writingforchildren.suite101.com/

www.writingforchildrenandteens.com/

www.explorewriting.co.uk/WritingForChildren.html

www.writing-world.com/children

www.writerswrite.com/childrens/

www.scbwiaustralia.org/

Australian Centre for Youth Literature  www.slv.vic.gov.au/about/centreforyouthliterature/youthlit.html

Family History / Creative Non-fiction

http://resourcesforwriters.suite101.com/article.cfm/writing-creative-nonfiction#ixzz0ewGhaMmS

http://www.ehow.com/how_5590744_write-memoir-easy-way.html

http://www.explorewriting.co.uk/Memoirs.html

http://www.explorewriting.co.uk/FamilyScrapBooks.html

http://www.writing-world.com/creative/index.shtml

http://www.ehow.com/how_2103529_write-family-memoir.html

http://writingmemoirs.suite101.com/article.cfm/digging_for_entertaining_family_history_stories

Editing

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/proofread.html

http://www.copyblogger.com/edit-your-writing-2/

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdc24/selfEdit.htm

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/five-words-you-can-cut/

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/category/misused-words/

This is your creative writing tutor Melinda here. I thought you might like to know about something happening down south thath might interest those of you keen on family history for your writing project:

It’s on every Saturday from 27 February until 27 March:

“Writing your family history
Tuggeranong Library

Come along to these weekly sessions to learn about writing your family history. No experience necessary – you only need an interest. Participants are asked to please bring along a notebook (e.g. school exercise book), a ruler and a pen. This is a free event. Bookings can be made online www.library.act.gov.au or by phone on 6205 9000.”

Thanks to everyone who came last week for session 1 of creative writing, it was wonderful to see so many people attending and heaps of new faces among them.  I hope the exercise we did was beneficial for you and got the juices flowing a bit.

I will be posting links on this site to some of the material we cover in class so don’t worry if you miss a session, you’ll be able to access it all online at your own convenience.

This week we will be looking at editing and doing a short exercise practising editing some small sample pieces of work.  After that we will have time for working on our own writing projects.

Looking forward to seeing you there! 

PS Some people last week mentioned wanting to read some of my work. I will bring some of my books along to this week’s session to satisfy your curiosity. In the meantime you can check out my blog at www.melindasmith.wordpress.com

Singing teacher Cecilia led us through a few breathing and relaxation exercises first, some of which were very funny – blowing raspberries in a room full of other adults is more entertaining than you might think!

After that we sang some nursery rhymes, an indigenous ballad, spiritual songs and Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” (you probably know the version recorded by James Taylor). A very enjoyable way to spend the morning.

If you missed the show, you can see the works in the virtual exhbition.